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2023 Montreal Comic Arts Festival Bédélys Youth Award
2022 Kirkus Prize Finalist
A Kirkus Best Books of 2021
An SLJ Best Books of 2021
A NYPL’s Best Books of 2021

“Employing artwork that expresses sobering realism with hints of softly colorful catharsis, Smith provides a compassionate, gentle look at a young boy in the grip of PTSD and his hard-won path to recovery. …Exceptionally graceful and delightful.” ― Kirkus, starred review

“With a soft start and a gentle build, Smith’s graphic novel details the realities of Manuel’s trauma response while reveling in subdued, generous scenes that showcase the three friends’ everyday joys.” ― Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Smith weaves a beautiful story of resilience and the sweet onset of first love… A stunning work of self-discovery, vulnerability, and finding beauty beyond tragedy.” ― School Library Journal, starred review

“LGBTQ+ readers will appreciate the gentle, organic way a love story emerges throughout the story.” ― School Library Connection, starred review

From the author of The Deep & Dark Blue comes a tender graphic novel, perfect for our time, that gently explores themes of self-discovery, friendship, healing from tragedy, and hope for a better tomorrow.

Struggling with anxiety after witnessing a harrowing instance of gun violence, Manuel Soto copes through photography, using his cell-phone camera to find anchors that keep him grounded. His days are a lonely, latchkey monotony until he’s teamed with his classmates, Sebastian and Caysha, for a group project.

Sebastian lives on a grass-fed cattle farm outside town, and Manuel finds solace in the open fields and the antics of the newborn calf Sebastian is hand-raising. As Manuel aides his new friends in their preparations for the local county fair, he learns to open up, confronts his deepest fears, and even finds first love.

The Golden Hour
Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-316-54037-7
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-316-54033-9
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-316-54031-5
256 pages

Foreign editions

L’Espace d’un instant, published in France by Rue de Sèvres.